Age

Born

Role(s)

Contents

Early career

Nicholas Bakay was born on October 8, 1959 in Buffalo, New York[1], where he attended Nichols School. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1981.[2] He has Hungarian roots (his surname means "from Baka").[3]

Career

Bakay served as a writer on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, in which he also voiced Salem Saberhagen, a warlock who has been transformed into the Spellman family's pet cat for abusing his magic. Bakay also served as a writer for the cartoon series Sabrina: The Animated Series, and as the voice of Norbert on The Angry Beavers.

Bakay is also an avid sport writer and commentator. He writes a weekly column for NFL.com called "Nick Bakay's Manly House of Football", as well as occasional columns for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. He appears on Sportscenter on ESPN Wednesday and Thursday mornings during NFL season, and has frequently done segments on NFL Total Access on NFL Network. Bakay also has guest hosted many episodes of Up Close and Talk2, as well as contributed to Jim Rome Is Burning and several other sports shows.

Early in his career he wrote the storylines for the Evil Clown Comics series which appeared in National Lampoon magazine. From 1993-1994, he was a writer for the comedy sketch series In Living Color, and appeared as Stu Dunfy, the host of the fictional game show The Dirty Dozens. He worked at Comedy Central, writing and appearing on numerous shows, including Night After Night with Allan Havey and Sports Monster.[4]

Beginning in 2000, Bakay worked as a producer on the CBS hit comedy, King of Queens, where he also wrote and acted in several episodes. He co-wrote the 2009 comedy film Paul Blart: Mall Cop with King of Queens star Kevin James, as well as its sequel, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015).

In 2006, Bakay created, wrote, and voiced a cartoon for Comedy Central called The Adventures of Baxter and McGuire, which was nominated for an Emmy in the "Best Broadband Comedy" category.[5]

In 2013, Bakay began as a producer for the series Mom. Bakay also voiced the self-help radio announcer throughout the series.

From 2006 to 2010, Bakay served as a producer for and acted in the Fox comedy, Til Death.[6]

Guest appearances

Bakay has guest-starred on many TV sitcoms. He appeared on In Living Color in a semi-recurring role as Stu Dunfy, guest-host of the sketch "The Dirty Dozens" (and other voice work). He also appeared on the Seinfeld episode ("The Smelly Car"), Bakay plays Elaine's boyfriend who in the beginning of the episode is so great because he "pillages and plunders," but later on, he can't bear being with Elaine because of the intense body odor she acquired from being in Jerry's car.

In the That '70s Show episode "Ski Trip", Bakay played Gus, a gay truck driver attracted to Kelso. He also stars in another episode of That '70s Show as the voice of Donna's journal, and in "An Eric Forman Christmas" as the voice of Santa Claus in Kelso's Rankin-Bass-modeled dream.

Bakay had various recurring roles (such as Father McDaniel, Gus and miscellaneous voice work) on the show The King of Queens, which he also served as a producer and writer on. In the popular sitcom Ellen, Bakay starred as bookstore employee Lloyd in the 10th episode of the 2nd series, alongside comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

Bakay reprized his role as "Salem" on the animated series Sabrina: The Animated Series. He also had roles on The Simpsons,Boy Meets World, You Wish, Teen Angel, Promised Land, and Diagnosis: Murder, playing Salem. He was the side-kick on two late night talk shows, Night After Night with Allan Havey and Dennis Miller's short-lived show.

Personal life

Bakay met his wife Robin while working at Comedy Central, where she was writing and producing on-air promos. They married in February 1994 and have two children together, and now live in West Hollywood along with a dog and two cats, one of whom is named Salem, for his character on Sabrina.[4] He is a Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres fan.